Authors Guild, Inc. v. Google, Inc.

Authors Guild, Inc. v. Google, Inc.
Court	United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
Full case name	The Authors Guild Inc., et al. v. Google, Inc.
Decided	October 16, 2015 (2d Circuit); November 14, 2013 (SDNY)
Citation	804 F.3d 202
Court membership
Judges sitting	Denny Chin (SDNY); Pierre N. Leval, José A. Cabranes, Barrington Daniels Parker, Jr. (2d Cir.)
Keywords
copyright infringement, fair use

Authors Guild v. Google 804 F.3d 202 (2nd Cir. 2015) was a copyright case heard in federal court for the Southern District of New York, and then the Second Circuit Court of Appeals between 2005 and 2015. It concerned fair use in copyright law and the transformation of printed copyrighted books into an online searchable database through scanning and digitization. It centered on the legality of the Google Book Search (originally named as Google Print) Library Partner project that had been launched in 2003.

Though there was general agreement that Google's attempt to digitize books through scanning and computer-aided recognition for searching online was seen as a transformative step for libraries, many authors and publishers had expressed concern that Google had not sought their permission to make scans of the books still under copyright and offer them to users. Two separate lawsuits, including one from three authors represented by the Authors Guild and another by Association of American Publishers, were filed in 2005 charging Google with copyright infringement. Google worked with the litigants in both suits to develop a settlement agreement (the Google Book Search Settlement Agreement) that would have allowed it to continue the program though paying out for works it had previously scanned, creating a revenue program for future books that were part of the search engine, and allowing authors and publishers to opt out. The settlement received much criticism as it also applied to all books worldwide, including works that may have been out of print but still under copyright, and may have violated antitrust aspects given Google's dominant position within the Internet industry. A reworked proposal to address some of these concerns was met with similar criticism, and ultimately the settlement was rejected by 2011, allowing the two lawsuits to be joined for a combined trial.

In late 2013, after the class action status was challenged, the District Court granted summary judgment in favor of Google, dismissing the lawsuit and affirming the Google Books project met all legal requirements for fair use. The Second Circuit Court of Appeal upheld the District Court's summary judgment in October 2015, ruling Google's "project provides a public service without violating intellectual property law."^[1] The U.S. Supreme Court subsequently denied a petition to hear the case.^[2]